Sparkplug 24

This week I continue with my off-season “theme”, looking at what might be possible if professional motocross were run differently. This time it’s from the viewpoint of a team manager, who I will call “Paul” for fun.

In the Professional Motocross Racing League, teams can be as small as two riders, and as large as ten, but teams are only allowed to enter 5 racers in each class. Paul is the Open class manager for the powerhouse CitiBank/Gap Racing team, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Team CitiBank/Gap Racing, or C/GR, is one of five teams representing the North East division, and is the current division champion. C/GR, like the other top teams in the league, has a full complement of ten riders, and they hire separate managers for each class. Five of the riders are mounted on 250Fs while the other 5 race 450Fs that have been bored out to 475 (a necessary modification in the PMRL). All of the C/GR bikes are Kawasakis prepared by Pro Circuit.

It’s just past the halfway point in the season, and the North East division is racing at their home facility against the visiting National Champions, the South West division. The checkered flag has just fallen on the last moto of the day, and Paul has a few minutes to collect his thoughts and reflect on the weekend as he heads over to the podium presentation.

Coming into this weekend’s meet, it was clear that the NE division desperately needed to pull off a strong performance against the defending National champs if they wished to remain in contention for a slot in the playoffs. There are more than bragging rights at stake; all of the teams split the bonus money available in the post-season. If your region doesn’t qualify for the playoffs, then there’s no more racing at your home facility and that means no additional money is gathered and there’s no opportunity to share the playoff bonus.

At the same time, there were divisional title points on the line as well and C/GR was facing a serious challenge from their divisional rival Team Circuit City. Saturday’s qualifiers were the scene for this showdown, as this is the day when it’s decided who will represent each respective division in the final motos on Sunday. Team C/GR’s 250F team led the way, with all 5 riders advancing to Sunday. Paul was slightly disappointed in his rookie’s performance in the Open class, as the youngster failed to qualify, finishing 12th. Fortunately, his 4 other Open class teammates made it into the show. However, Circuit City’s star riders took the wins in both classes, further tightening the divisional points race.

But Sunday was a different story entirely. The only points awarded during Sunday finals are points for the division as a whole and points for the individual championships. One of Paul’s racers, a veteran named Roger, is in serious contention for the individual title, and he had a terrific battle for the win in the first Open class moto, swapping the lead numerous times with the captain of Team Callaway Golf, one of the top South West division teams. So going into the final moto of the day, the North East riders held a slight edge over the South East squad… the heat was on! (to be continued…)